This study investigated the effects of kinesio taping (KT) or KT plus conventional therapy on pain, muscle strength, funrefction, and range of motion in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Data sources: Databases included PubMed, Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Airiti Library, EMBASE, and WOS search engines. Search terms related to KT and knee OA were combined and searched. Articles that met the inclusion criteria and were graded with a Jadad score ≥3 were included in a meta-analysis to calculate the total effect. The exclusion criteria were non-English-language articles, non-original articles, non-full-text articles, no description of the intervention, or articles with a Jadad score ≤2. Eleven articles were included in the meta-analysis. KT treatment had a significant small total effect on pain reduction (p < 0.001; n = 1509; standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.42; 95% CI = -0.65 to -0.18) and a significant moderate total effect on isokinetic muscle strength improvement (p = 0.001; n = 447; SMD = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.28 to 1.16). No significant total effects of KT on isometric muscle strength, time to complete functional tasks, or ROM improvement were found. KT or KT plus conventional therapy has a significant effect on pain relief and isokinetic but not isometric muscle strength improvement in patients with knee OA. KT can be an effective tool for treating knee OA pain and is especially valuable for aiding in isokinetic muscle strength. (PROSPERO register ID: CRD42021252313).
Keywords: degenerative joint disease; isokinetic torque; kinesiology tape; pain.